Two Day Old Chicks

The chicks are two days old.
Yesterday I went out about midmorning to see if the other two eggs were going to hatch for us and Mama Hen had moved off of those two eggs and she and her two babies were in the pen outside the coop.  I felt the eggs and they had already gotten cold--there was no point in trying to save them.
I needed to get Mama Hen and the two chicks to the "nursery brooder" before trouble ensued.

Mama Hen--keeping her babies warm in the pen.

Which is when trouble did, indeed, ensue.
PeeWee the Rooster came around to find her off the nest for the first time in three weeks and proceeded to do "the dance" around her.  She was having none of that and she puffed up as big as she could get herself and growled and clucked at him and finally she ran off and out of the pen like a shot, leaving the babies in the cold and alone.
My pen for the chickens is only about 3 and a half feet tall so running in there wasn't an option. Crawling slowly was. But no running in there for me. Luckily, PeeWee followed her out. I don't know if he would kill his own offspring or not but I didn't want to take a chance.  Some say the other adults will do that and it isn't something I'd want to watch.  And I like to think that she ran off of them to purposely lure him away from them. But who knows.  She does seem to be awfully protective of them.
Andrew, our 6 year old grandson, came out about then so I sent him in the pen on a rescue mission.  He was able to get one of the chicks and bring her to me and I picked up Mama Hen, who was still running around outside the pen, and they both went into the brooder next door while Andrew and I tried to round up the other chick.  But while we were doing that Mama Hen left her chick in the "nursery brooder" and came frantically around the coop looking for the other one.  It was pretty cold out yesterday and I knew these chicks would not survive long without the warmth from their Mother.  It didn't take the two of them long to find each other. The peeps from the baby called out a distress signal and Mama found her right away and covered her with her warm body. I went to retrieve the other baby from the "nursery brooder" and brought her back to the pen where Mama Hen was and the two of them found each other as well. I watched the little thing toddle and peep and Mama Hen found a patch of scratch and chortled and clucked softly as she ate next to this chick, encouraging it to do the same.  Nature at it's finest--a Mother teaching her young to eat. We re-grouped to plan phase two of Operation: Rescue Hen and Chicks from the Elements.  It was supposed to snow and they couldn't just sit outside but I imagine she was trying to get the babies closer to the food and water.  I couldn't send Andrew in after Mama. I didn't want her to peck him so it was my turn to try.
By now Stan had shown up to help. And so had the rest of the flock. OK, they really weren't there to help. They were just being nosy about all of the commotion and they all came over to watch the show.  I got down and crawled to the back of the pen and picked up Mama. She didn't protest too much, either.  I had been feeding her peanuts by the handfuls since she was old enough to eat them so I guess she didn't mind me messing with her.  When I picked her up there were no babies under her but I saw four little tiny feet protruding from under her wings. This was almost too cute to even stand and I wished I had crawled in there with the camera. Just as soon as I saw the feet though, one tumbled out onto the straw so I gave her a little shake and the other one came falling out. I tucked Mama Hen under one arm and grabbed the babies and  handed them to Stan and we got all three settled into the brooder-nursery where she was able to be alone and not worry about chicks falling from a high nest and with water and food close by.

The chicks come out long enough to eat  and then run back under Mom to get warm again. 

(The final two eggs were discarded. One had not developed at all and was only yolk. The other one probably needed just a few more hours, maybe a day. But her two young ones were probably getting to be too active for her to remain in the nest.)